I suspect what the ACLU is worried about with the housing thing is a return to the bad old days of warehousing the mentally ill in prison-like institutions that hurt them instead of helping them. Coalitions of the mentally ill remember those days very well, and they are afraid of society repeating that mistake.

This is hard!

We put half a solution in place when we stopped the forced institutionalizations. And now we end up with situations where people like your son are tortured and in terrible pain because we won't help them. Because we put them in jail instead of treating them, instead of mandating medication that they aren't capable of deciding to take.

I understand some people think the current suggested solution is also a half measure and that it's just going to send us back to the days when people like your son were locked away in mental hospitals that looked and felt like prisons for their entire lives.

Keep telling your stories, Patsy. Keep advocating! Your voice is so needed!